Crown
by azaleahs
Summary: With electricity flowing from her fingertips and a mask concealing her identity, the newspapers headline Gabriela Corona under a different name. She defended her city under the cloak of the night and she intended for that part of her to forever remain a secret. And it would have, up until a strange man with an eye patch approached her about something called the Avengers Initiative.


**IF SHE WAS TO BE COMPLETELY HONEST,** Gabriela Corona would admit to the fact that Oscorp Industries sort of freaked her out. On the outside, it looked sleek and innovative, a place where cutting edge design lingered in every corner and where the greatest minds in the world might have worked. It was nestled neatly in the borough of Manhattan, only a hop, skip, and a jump away from Times Square. On the outside, it looked safe, ground breaking, intellectual. But on the inside? That was a whole different ball game.

Once upon a time, the company had thrived, a shiny new toy within the confines of New York City. A place where the technology, mostly focused on mechanical and biological engineering, shined as the star of the show. At one point in time, Oscorp was seen as a place where perhaps cures for various diseases or technology that could change the world would come from. Norman Osborn had built the company up from the ground, quickly shooting his way up to the top of the list of the world's most brilliant and brightest. Oscorp had once rivaled Stark Industries, yet another showstopper in the world of science. But now, years later? Oscorp was failing, leaving it latch onto any life preserver that it could.

It was no secret to anyone in the city that over the course of the past few years, Norman Osborn had pretty much flown off the handles. His tale of demise started with sending his son off to what had to be the tenth boarding school, Harry Osborn having a knack for getting himself expelled — the perfect picture of the typical arrogant socialite. Anyways, when the younger Obsorn was out of the picture once again, Norman went down a dark path. There were whispers across New York and across the world of technology and business about it. Whispers about the insane ideas that Norman was coming up with and funneling all of his funding into. Whispers of thousands of dollars funneled into failed weaponry and failed contracts with the military. And then there were whispers that wondered if Norman was fit to be running his own life, let alone a company.

He was nearly running Oscorp into the ground in ways that Gabriela couldn't even begin to understand, what with funding insane experiments, trying to contract with the military over top secret inventions, and breaking business deals with some of his biggest investors for legitimately no reason. In short, Norman Osborn and Oscorp Industries in general was looking for a life jacket, something to keep its head above the water.

And for reasons that Gabriela could not fathom in the slightest, her father had decided that Crown Enterprises was going to be the saving grace to the once illustrious company. Her father had always been an odd businessman, something she chalked up to the fact that he hadn't had much time to learn under his predecessor, although Gabi was certain that Ray would have taken zero lessons from his father into the future of the company. For example, only weeks after José Corona kicked the bucket, Ray had revitalized the company from inside out, even going as far as pulling out weapons manufacturing partnerships with Stark Industries. But a deal with Norman fucking Osborn? Gabi had choked on her champagne when her father announced it.

Somehow, literally right under her nose, Raymond Corona had acquired the rights to nearly forty-five percent of Oscorp Industries, giving the place enough funding to keep the lights on and then some. Osborn still had majority ownership of the brand, the head seat on the board of directors (yeah, that idea wasn't insane at all, no, of course not), and got to make all the final calls and all that shit, but Crown Enterprises was now extensively linked with this shit show for the time being. Which meant that Ray got to sink his claws into nearly every project that the company ran and got profit from it — or something like that. Gabriela had never really paid much attention when it came to her father's business dealings, which sounds completely problematic when she thought about the fact that she would be inheriting this whole thing one day. Yeah . . . she was going to have to work on that.

Speaking of inheritance, that was exactly what found Gabriela Corona wandering the endless chrome, pristine halls of Oscorp (okay, so yeah, the inside looked just as nice as the outside, but there was a literal chill running down her fucking spine and it wasn't from her new leather jacket being poorly insulated). Given the fact that she was two years out of college and had spent most of that time networking for Crown Enterprises, rubbing shoulders at galas and parties with the sons and daughters of future partners, Ray had figured it was time for her to dive head first into what Crown Enterprises stood for. He even went as far as setting up a meeting with one of Oscorp's mechanical engineers, in order for the girl to get a handle on what Crown was funding now.

Which was fine and all, really. Gabi didn't mind doing things for her father, like sitting in on finance meetings or meeting with potential investors. She was gifted in multiple areas, but smooth talking and charming people was her number one claim to fame — or at least, that's what the tabloids said. And a few celebrities that she's going to leave nameless for the sake of privacy. But _goddamn,_ this place gave her the creeps. Like Scooby-Doo, haunted mansion type creeps.

The tips of her heels clicked off the tiled floors with each step, but they sounded like a thunderstorm due to the complete lack of sound that's coming from within the hallway she's walking down. Weren't lab areas supposed to be, well, noisy? There were legitimately no people around from what she could see, the last sight of people she saw having been a few people in lab coats making their way through the halls twelve floors down. Her contact worked on the thirteenth, which was where a lot of the mechanical engineering labs were meant to be situated, or so she had been told. Gabriela had a badge attached to her jacket that pretty much guaranteed her an easy passage through the building, eliminating any guards stopping her and asking questions of where she was supposed to be. And that was all fine, dandy, and useful — if she was actually passing any guards, that is.

She pulled her jacket a bit tighter around her frame as her eyes scanned numbers on the doors of the labs she passed. God, this really wasn't how she figured her Thursday was going to go. She figured she'd do a few things to help her dad out, which she technically was, but she figured her dad would be there with her. Instead, he most definitely was sitting in his cushy Manhattan office, sipping on aged scotch while going over reports. Gabriela couldn't stand scotch in the slightest, far more partial to her red wines and extra bubbly champagnes, but she was certain she'd prefer downing her dad's alcohol than wandering what appeared to be an abandoned floor in Oscorp.

Eventually, she came to a halt in front of a closed lab door with a little plaque that read _Lab ME07. M. Abernathy, H. Edmund, D. Gonzalez._ Gabriela furrowed her brow, slipping her phone out of her pocket to take a quick glance at the email she had been sent from her father earlier. After confirming that this was in fact the lab that she was supposed to be visiting and that her contact was whoever Gonzalez was, she slipped the phone back into her pocket and raised a hand cautiously knocked on the door.

Nothing.

A few more seconds passed and there was still nothing, no sign of life heading to greet her into the lab. Gabriela shrugged, knocking again. Maybe they didn't hear her? She persisted knocking a few seconds longer than last time and it was then that she finally heard a noise from within. There was an aggressive clattering of metal from behind the door and she could just make out the sound of a man groaning.

 _"Hold on a damn second!"_ a voice shouted from within, no doubt supremely ticked off at her knocking.

The pocket door slid open then, mechanisms whirring quietly as the thick metal door disappeared into the wall. Gabriela drew her hand back, using it to smooth a few stray hairs behind her ear. A meticulously manicured eyebrow was poised upwards then, as a man approached her from within the room. Even with the welding mask he wore that covered his entire face from her view, she could already feel the annoyance radiating off of him.

He flipped up the mask then, revealing tanned skin and shoulder length brown hair. Oh, and a horribly pissed off expression. "What do you want?"

Gabriela held herself back from firing back a rude retort at his own rudeness, instead choosing to take the kind and diplomatic approach that her father instilled in her at a young age, especially when she was representing the company. She steeled herself, flashed her award winning smile, and introduced herself. "Hi, I'm Gabriela Corona. I'm here from Crown Enterprises, my father set up — "

"I know who you are," he interrupted, brushing his hands off on his jean covered legs. "Your father's eyesore of a building isn't hard to miss, you know."

Gabriela was taken a back, her face contorting into confusion. _What the fuck was this guy's problem,_ she wondered. Nonetheless, she didn't let it bother her. It wouldn't be the first time someone insulted something related to the company to her face. "Great, well, I'm supposed to be meeting with someone named Gonzalez? Maybe you could just let him know I'm here?" God, she really hoped Gonzalez was a hell of a lot nicer than this guy.

The man grimaced. "That'll be me."

Figured. Gabriela bit back a sigh, instead taking a few steps into the lab. Gonzalez doesn't even step aside to let her in, which Gabriela figured was by design. She ignored the fact that she wasn't exactly welcome, instead brushing past him as if he had invited her with the biggest grin known to man. Her eyes glanced around the room for a moment, taking in the strange contraptions that littered the room. There were multiple workbenches and tools crowded around the room, but even with everything seemingly piled on top of one another, it didn't really seemed cluttered. Instead, honestly, it seemed like it had been meticulously organized into this sort of chaotic disarray.

All she really knew was that she had literally no clue of what she was looking at. Science had never really been her forte and so staring at multiple devices created by minds of geniuses with degrees in mechanical engineering was pretty much like reading in a language she didn't know at all. Knowing that Gonzalez more than likely wasn't going to start showing her around, she took it upon herself to begin walking around the lab, peering at the contraptions she passed. She heard a sigh from behind her and then the whir of the door as it closed and soon, there were near silent footsteps behind her as she took in her surroundings.

"So . . . " Gabi began awkwardly, glancing over her shoulder to where Gonzalez was following behind her. He had taken off the welding mask at this point, opting to carry it at his side. He raised an eyebrow at her, expecting her to go on. Realizing she only knew his last name, she then tacked on, "What does the D stand for?"

"Dax."

She furrowed her brow at the unusual name, but didn't question him any further on his name. Instead, she nodded along to what he said, before falling back into the awkward silence. It felt foolish, honestly, to be traipsing around the lab with Dax following behind her, clearly not pleased at all with her presence for some reason unbeknownst to her. Lips pursed, she glanced around the room for a moment before her eyes landed on the welding mask he held. People liked to talk about themselves and what they did didn't they? Or at least, men usually did. Well, sleazy ones in clubs _loved_ to talk about themselves and while she wasn't exactly sure how an engineer in an engineering lab would be, she figured maybe if he talked about himself it would end the awkwardness and wipe that fucking frown off of his face.

"So, uh, what were you working on before?"

When she turned to look at him, Dax was mid grimace. Also, possibly mid eye roll. "Well, whatever it is, it probably won't be of any interest to your father. I don't know if he was aware of this when he asked you to meet with me, but we're not working on any missiles or guns capable of wiping out entire cities in here."

If it were humanly possible, Gabriela's eyebrows might have shot off of her face, well past her hairline. It was no secret to anyone that when José Corona had started Crown Enterprises, it had started off as a company that benefited the American military and the American military alone. Over the years under José's oversight, the company had expanded and had begun researching and manufacturing other things that weren't mass weaponry, but it was technically what the company had been built upon. Dax wasn't wrong about that, but he was wrong about the fact in his insinuation that Ray Corona was the same as his father. The weapons side of the country had been officially shut down by Gabriela's father only days after José's funeral and Ray had gone to lengths to end his father's deals with other company's that involved weapons. Ray believed in the advancement of society and the world and the future, not the destruction of it.

Gabriela felt a pang of rage begin to bubble in her stomach and she couldn't help her eyes from narrowing as she looked Dax dead in the eye. "Look, I'm not sure what your problem is, maybe this is just a bad day for you or something, but the fact that you're still working on projects is thanks to funding my father is giving this company. My father purchased a decent portion of this company to help it stay away from going bankrupt and to help fund the projects that are produced by Oscorp. Again, that includes whatever's made in this lab."

"Oh yeah, because what we _really_ needed here was blood money," Dax snapped, setting his welding mask down on the counter. He leaned against it, crossing his arms over his chest.

 _Ping. Ping. Pop._

One of the machines in the room seemed to hum to life on it's own accord, but Gabriela paid no mind to it as she exclaimed, "Excuse me?"

 _Pop. Pop._ It was a staticky sound that neither of the two in the room acknowledged nor did they acknowledge the way the screens on the machine flashed to life, warning signs blinking erratically.

He rolled his eyes and there was a thick amount of venom in his voice. "Your grandfather built the entire company upon funding wars with weapons and money."

"My father pulled out of everything related to weapons the second he was put in charge," Gabriela retorted. She could feel her resolve slipping, here facade of being cool, calm, and collected. Because honestly? She never truly was. Her father had done his best to make sure she maintained a poised appearance in public, but there were just times when she wanted to snap and clearly this was slowly but surely becoming one of those times. She could feel anger rising as her tone got louder. "I'm not exactly proud of what my grandfather started and neither is my father, but he's trying to make changes to what Crown Enterprises was. We're trying to promote things that will benefit society, not help the trigger happy government kill people. That's not what we stand for anymore."

 _Pop. Pop._

"That doesn't change the fact that a good majority of your money comes from war."

"Last I checked, hasn't Norman Osborn been trying to make deals with the government on whatever crazy idea he's had for the past few months?" Gabriela snapped out. There were a million other things on the tip of her tongue that she was prepared to lash out at him with, several profanities ready to pop out and it was taking everything the twenty-four year old had not to keep it together. "And as for — "

 _Pop. Pop. CRACK._

Gabriela's words fell silent on her tongue as she and Dax finally took notice of the noises that the machine was making, finally acknowledging that something was clearly wrong. It was nearly as tall as a refrigerator, so definitely taller than the the Corona girl's small frame in that regard. Other than that, the machine seemed to be less grandeur than the other things that she had seen so far in the lab, despite not knowing what any of them were either.

Nearly more than half of it, bar the last foot or two at the bottom, were covered in buttons and touch screens, almost like a giant computer interface. Was that the right word? Hell if she knew. The machine also had four large, clear pipe like tubes that jutted out of it and connected back into the bottom, resembling excessively large door handles. Two of the pipe like attachments were filled with several entwined pieces of wire and almost like in a light bulb, it was possible to see the sparks and electricity that danced across them. The other tubes, oddly enough, were filled to the brim with a nearly opaque, vibrant blue substance that seemed to bubble almost in time with the electricity dancing across the wires. One of those tubes were cracked, the very crack that had caught the attention of Gabriela and Dax. Nothing seemed to be spilling out just yet, but the Corona girl had a feeling that was something that should be prevented regardless.

Oh, and on the biggest screen that the machine housed? It was flashing the word _MALFUNCTION_ in bold red block letters.

"Oh, that's comforting," Dax muttered dryly as he approached, it beginning to tap on the screen, looking for something to shut it down. From what Gabriela could see, the machine didn't seem to be plugged into a wall socket, so the easy fix of ripping a plug from an outlet was something that they weren't going to be getting from this . . . whatever it was.

"Okay, what is this thing?" Gabi asked, taking a few steps towards Dax and the machine. Her eyes were blown wide in confusion — and a whole lot fear every time the wires sparked — as she watched Dax press a multitude of buttons, all futile attempts to reverse or even cease the malfunction.

"Oh. Uh, funny story, you'll definitely get a kick out of it — I don't know."

She wasn't sure it was possible, but Gabriela was certain that her eyes widened even more than they were. Glancing between the machine that was getting louder and louder with concerning sounds and the engineer that uttered the words _I don't know_ about something in his own lab, she exclaimed, "I'm sorry, what?"

"I didn't make this thing. That," Dax started, jutting his chin over his shoulder to point towards a rather ugly hunk of scrap metal on one of the work stations, "Is mine. This . . . this isn't even from engineering. It's from the genetics lab, technically. One of the engineers who shares this room with me is banging one of the geneticists and they came up with this machine to house whatever the fuck that blue stuff is and serve as an incubator for it? I think? All I do know is that they got Osborn's approval, only for it then to be deemed wildly unsafe and possibly lethal? Or something like that?"

Gabi was certain her stomach dropped in that moment. Lethal? Like, actually _lethal?_ Her eyes trailed over to where the clear pipes were either bubbling with whatever that geneticist cooked up in the lab or pure live wires. Before this moment, she wasn't even sure electricity could dance over wires like that, but maybe that's why the machine was malfunctioning. Yeah, that probably had something to do with it. But she couldn't also help but notice the way that whatever that . . . substance was seemed to move in time with the electricity, seeming like it was pushing up against the barriers of it's cracked confines to get closer.

The brunette clamped her eyes shut, certain she was seeing things. That wasn't physically possible — granted, she did live in a world where skinny kids from Brooklyn could be turned into literal superheroes once upon a time and where a world renowned scientist accidentally turned himself into a giant green rage monster, but that was _totally_ besides the point. Her heart seemed to hammer in her chest as the malfunction warning continued to flash on the screen, seemingly highlighting the possibility that something of that gravity could happen because of this machine.

Or, you know, it would explode and both her and Dax would die in a fiery blaze. God, see this is exactly why she didn't want to come to Oscorp.

As Dax's eyes hastily pored over every single inch of the machine, pushing buttons that seemed to have no effect other than for the machine to let out a sound that more than likely meant _error_ or _pressing buttons on this thing is probably only going to speed up this thing exploding,_ Gabriela couldn't help but begin to pace a short distance behind him, back and forth. Should she leave? Call for help? Surely he'd be able to get this thing to shut down, he was a trained engineer working for one of the biggest companies on this side of the country. She could feel her feet want to direct themselves in the way of the door, down the hall, into an elevator, through the lobby, and out the main door, but as she frantically paced a good three feet distance she couldn't help but feel guilt well up in her chest at the thought of leaving.

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Well, considering I have a Masters degree in engineering from MIT and my best idea is to find a giant sledgehammer and go to town on this thing," Dax began to spit out as he tried another button — the result was the same annoyed error squawk — while his other hand ran through his shoulder length hair. He seemed more on edge than ever and for good reason. Continuing on he told her, "No, I don't think that there's anything you could do that could help."

Okay, he was probably right. She bit here lip, shifting her weight from one leg to another, before another question struck her. "Wait . . . you said that this thing was deemed wildly unsafe — literally, those were your words. So why the hell is it in your lab?"

Dax groaned, although considering his next words it seemed to be more directed at the situation of what led to the machine being in the lab rather than her question. "Like I said, the guy who shares this lab with me is banging the geneticist and when the whole thing fell through, this hunk of junk got labeled for removal and being erased off of all records. While that happens, it needs to be somewhere and that stupid, plucky geneticist with his stupid god like biceps managed to swindle my coworker into housing it here."

Gabriela furrowed her brow. Not sure of what else to say, she muttered out, "Sounds like a terrible coworker."

Snorting in agreement, Dax nodded. He tried another combination of buttons. The machine squawked in disagreement. The electricity along the wires seemed to get more frenetic, as if it was daring him to mess up shutting the machine down once again. "Oh yeah, if we die, he's so getting his ass haunted for all of eternity. You're welcome to join me."

Despite the somewhat severity of the situation and the fact that he seemed to death was an actual possibility, Gabriela couldn't help but laugh for the briefest of seconds. But she was still wound up, terribly anxious for a moment where this thing would look close to blowing and she'd have to make a daring escape like she was an action movie hero. Momentarily, she glanced down at the heels she wore and silently cursed herself for them. Her eyes flitted towards the door.

"Are you sure we shouldn't just leave and maybe call someone? Like the guy you share a lab with or the geneticist?"

 _Crack._ Dax spared it a concerned glance for only the briefest of seconds.

"I can't leave the lab until I shut this thing down," Dax snapped, his tone quickly returning to the same irritated one he had had from the minute she showed up. "If you want to go, be my guest, princess."

The nickname, which rolled off his tongue with such disdain and venom, instantly earned an eye roll and while she had felt guilt for thinking of leaving earlier, she could easily feel that slip away. If there was one thing that Gabriela Corona hated to be called, it was princess. There was just something so off putting about the name, something that dug up repressed rage at everyone who had treated her like a dumb little spoiled brat her entire life.

Before she could stop it, she couldn't help but chide him. "Then why don't you shut it down, genius?"

 _Crack._ Another crack in the tubes. Another burst of frenetic energy, crackling along the wires like it had a life of it's own. Another bubble of whatever the plucky geneticist had synthesized in his lab.

Dax stopped his frantic search, turning his head to look over his shoulder. In a complete deadpan fashion, he gave her a look. "Did you miss the part where I said that I _didn't_ make this thing? Or the part where I have no fucking clue what it does? No, I don't have any clue how to turn it off."

His tone was malicious, anger growing by the second. He was frustrated, for good reason, and was instantly choosing to take it out on her. He was seconds away from telling her to get the fuck out and just leave him and this malfunctioning piece of shit in peace, but he didn't have a chance. For the next series of events, life altering events for both Gonzalez and Corona, seemed to happen in a matter of seconds.

 _Crack. Crack. POP._

Gabriela wasn't sure how she knew, but something inside of her seemed to snap into focus the second the first crack sounded. And then the second. And then the third. Call it fate or coincidence, a wild eyed guess or mere luck . . . honestly, call it whatever you wanted, but something told her that the machine's next move was going to be something that he shouldn't be standing in front of the machine for. And so, she leaped forward, arms outstretched.

"MOVE!" Gabriela screamed, shoving herself forward as to push Dax out of the way.

He yelped in surprise as the somewhat smaller woman forced him from where he stood until he was toppled over on the ground against the far wall. The machine's incessant whirring and sparking ceased right then, culminating in one rather large bang. With Dax on the floor, multiple feet away, it left Gabriela front and center, right as the pipe like tubes on the machine decided to take that very moment as the moment to shatter open.

Plexiglas popped with a loud crack, shards careening outwards along with a sea of fluorescent blue liquid. Wires had been dangling haphazardly in their confinements, electricity grew stronger. It had danced along the wires in tantalizing fashion, right up until the wires container broke open. And then, the second it connected with the impact of whatever that geneticist with the biceps cooked up, it caught on almost like a wildfire. Sparked, like fireworks. Exploded, like someone had lit a stream of gunpowder on fire. As if it was a bolt of lightning, the electricity struck down out of the machine as it blew and standing where Dax had been moments ago, it left Gabriela right in the crossfire.

The twenty-four year old had never once imagined what it would be like to be electrocuted, but she was almost certain that no amount of pain she could ever have imagined would have felt _this_ agonizing. She could felt it hit her, strike down with such an impact she was certain that it could level a building. She felt a tingle and than she felt excruciating pain. It blazed over her skin. She could faintly feel her self sailing backwards towards the floor. She could faintly hear Dax screaming. But mostly, she swore she could feel every nerve in her body, like she had become the live wire that had been buzzing with static sound and with vibrant energy.

And then, everything went black.

 **X**

Gabriela jolted awake and instantly she could feel a sore ache radiating through her body. That was the first thing she noticed. The second thing that she noticed was a feeling that she couldn't seem to shake even as she stared at the ceiling above her for several minutes. There was a tingle running across her skin, under her skin even. It was a feeling almost akin to having ones hair stand on end, a constant thrum of discomfort running across every inch of her. Honestly, it felt similar to the after effects of someone shocking you after rubbing their socks on a carpet for a few minutes. Or how people who stuck their fingers into electrical outlets described feeling a tingling sensation running up their arm afterwards. It wasn't painful, no. But it was consistent, an annoyance that she soon found herself groaning at.

The third was that she, under no circumstances, recognized her surroundings. She was laid out on a couch in what appeared to be the living room slash kitchen of a small apartment. The lights were dim and the small television set situated across from the couch was playing a rerun of Seinfeld at a low volume. Nearly mute, a laugh track played in the background as Kramer did something stupid on screen. There were a few windows in the room, all with the curtains drawn, but even with that blocking a direct view of the outside, she could tell that it was nighttime.

She pinched the bridge of her nose as she sat up, only to be met with a dizzying feeling. Her other hand flew out to balance herself and after deciding to move _a lot_ slower, the Corona girl managed to pull herself into a sitting position. She swung her legs over the side until she was sitting normally on the couch and almost immediately dropped her head into her hands. She let out a groan, both from the dizziness and the ache, as her mind seemed to slowly jog back into focus and replay the days events like some sort of freakish and painful slideshow.

 _Oscorp. Dax. The machine. The explosion. Electricity._

"Well, that explains why I feel like I stuck a fork in a socket," she mumbled to herself, head still in her hands. She quirked her lip slightly, sighing into her palms. "Doesn't explain where the fuck I am, though."

From across the room, a voice cut in. "Well, it's not exactly a five star hotel, but I like to think my apartment's pretty sweet. I have a panini press and everything."

"Jesus Christ!" Gabriela exclaimed, head whipping up as she jumped in her seat.

Standing in the kitchen situated right beside the living room, leaning against a counter holding the aforementioned panini press, was a very exhausted looking Dax. He looked like he needed about seven years worth of sleep, despite the numerous cans of Red Bull that littered the counter. In short, he looked like Gabriela felt.

Running a hand across his face, stifling a yawn, he gave her a mildly amused smile. "It's Dax, actually, but I guess since you saved my ass earlier, you can call me whatever the hell you like."

"Lovely offer, really it is," Gabriela croaked out, mimicking the way he had ran his hand across her face. She did the movement slower, contemplating every little thought that was buzzing around her skull at the moment. "But why am I here? Also, _where_ is here?"

Dax gave her an odd look, raising an eyebrow. "I live in Hell's Kitchen. And would you rather I have left you at Oscorp for someone else to come deal with you? I mean, you do remember what happened, right?"

Gabi nodded. She did, she really did. She knew that she had shoved Dax out of the way, right before the final malfunction of the machine had happened. Gabriela could remember the dread in her stomach, a tight coil of panic that had soared through her, telling her that he needed to get out of the way. Unfortunately, getting him out of the way had placed her right in front of the machine when the pipes blew, the electricity sparked to life with the genetics lab creation and had jolted out towards her like a bolt of lightning during a thunderstorm.

Dax hummed, pleased with her nod. Gently, almost eyeing her _too_ cautiously, he took a seat at the other end of the couch, practically sitting on it's arm rest. His eyes, cool and calculating, observed her for a moment before they gave her a serious look, one that matched the severity of his tone almost too perfectly. "That explosion? Honestly, it should have killed you. I don't even want to guess how many volts of electricity you got hit with. Plus, who knows what the actual _fuck_ was in those tubes. Seriously, I considered a hospital, but we might be in a full on Bruce Banner situation and the last thing we need is you Hulking out in the ER."

"Okay, but _why_ am I in your apartment?" Gabriela asked, this time stressing her question heavily. The way he was acting around her now was a complete one eighty from this morning, where his demeanor had been as cold as ice. Cocking her head to the side, she gave him a pointed look. "Last time I checked, I wasn't exactly your favorite person in the world."

Dax grimaced. He was silent for a few moments, before he let out a rather large exhale. "Look, I'm not exactly happy that your father bought a portion of Oscorp or that I'm going to have even more people breathing down my neck as it is. But if you hadn't shoved me out of the way, I might have died. You saved my life."

Gabriela watched him with careful eyes for a moment, as if trying to observe for anything that was less than sincere. But the way that he watched her back, the look in his eyes told her point blank that he was sincere. He was no longer looking at her like she was this little prissy thorn in his side for the day, but as someone who had saved him from being slapped with a couple hundred volts of electricity.

The tingle on her skin seemed to thrum a little more as she took a look around the apartment. Once again, her eyes were drawn to the closed curtains on the windows and the way that only very dim moonlight seemed to shine through them. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, before glancing at the watch on her wrist. Her head jerked back in surprise at the late hour. "Okay, how long was I even out for?"

"Uh . . . well, lets see. About ten hours? Give or take like ten minutes?"

Gabriela could literally feel her eyes bulge out of her head. Screeching, she let out, _"Ten hours?"_

Dax winced as her piercing tone reached his ears. If it was possible, he moved further away on the couch from her. Giving a half hearted shrug of his shoulders, he finally responded. "Yeah, well, I mean you did sort of get electrocuted. That's not exactly an everyday occurrence. Plus, we don't really know what the heck bicep Dave cooked up in genetics, which I honestly think has something to do with the fact that you were out. And then there was the electricity coming off you and then I had to find that stupid rubber floor mat, wrap you up, have a nice panicked cry to myself, drag you down the hall, sneak you into my shitty little Civic, and get you the fuck out of there. Honestly, you missed a hell of a burning rubber moment in the garage. I honestly felt a bit like Vin Diesel. You know, if Vin Diesel wasn't buff. Or if he was an engineer sneaking an unconscious girl out of work. Oh, and if he had hair."

He spoke so quickly that it nearly made her ears want to fall off and her brain scramble as she tried to keep up with his train of thought. Gabriela let his words sink in, squeezing her eyes shut again to focus. God, her head was throbbing so badly at this moment. And that stupid fucking tingle was getting stronger, dancing across her skin. But then, almost like she was hit by a car, something he said struck her as odd.

"You wrapped me up in a rubber floor mat?" she blurted out, brows knit together in total confusion. Yeah, that was the only thing that she managed to get out of what he just said.

"Rubber is a good insulator for electricity," Dax replied simply, as if was obvious. Still seeing the cringe on her face, he rolled his eyes. "No offense, but I wasn't exactly trying to get electrocuted."

"What the actual _hell_ are you talking about?"

When she looked back on this moment later, Gabriela wouldn't be able to tell you what it had been that had set it off. Maybe it was the lack of answers she had, maybe it was the extended build up of electricity, or maybe it was just the moment that she needed to really highlight what had happened that very morning at Oscorp, but it happened. And it happened fast.

Sheer annoyance bubbled inside of her when the last words fell from her lips and that seemed to open the gates. The tingle across her skin thrummed heavily, a static feeling that she would never in her life be able to describe. She felt a jolt, a shock, right down the length of her arms, across her palms, right up until it hit the tips of her fingers. It made her jump in her seat and her skin crawl and her heart hammer in her chest. The feeling was something incredible in the worst of ways, something she couldn't describe even if she was given a million chances to. The only thing that she would ever come to be able to describe it as, when she looked back upon this moment later in life, was like she was a live wire.

Because, in reality, that was the closest comparison to what she was. For right there, dancing across her fingers, was literally electricity. It zapped between her fingers on both hands, stretching across the expanse of her open palms. Gabriela Corona stared down at her own limbs in horror, like she didn't recognize them at all. She let out a shout of disturbed surprise, breath catching in her throat as the inevitable fear set in, seeping into her bones. Her mind seemed to shut down, staring numbly at her hands and the little bursts of pure energy came out of her.

And then, as quickly as it came, the electricity disappeared, seemingly vanishing from her fingers as if it was never there.

The room was silent for a moment, a single beat, Gabriela's bottom lip quivering in both confusion and fear at what she had just witnessed. She stared at her hands for a few seconds or maybe it was hours, she didn't know. All she could picture was the inhuman way that electricity had zapped out her, small sparks and surges. The tingle on her skin calmed down, returning to the initial light buzz that she had felt when she had woken up on Dax's couch.

And then, weakly, Dax gave her a forced smile and broke the silence. "That's what I was talking about."

Shakily, Gabriela glanced up at him. "What . . . what am I?"

"Well, right now I think my answer is going to be _not dead,_ which is good. Confusing, because electricity coming out you should be nearly impossible and should probably be frying your skin until it's all blackened and charred and, y'know, gross. But I guess not? Which is good? Weird? Good and weird? I don't know, honestly, right now I'm just wondering if we've stumbled onto some sort of Captain America type situation or — still a valid and horrifying theory, so bear with me — a Bruce Banner situation."

The way most of his sentences ended sounding like questions was not comforting. At all.

Gabriela gulped, thoughts filtering through her brain at an unprecedented speed as she tried to take everything in. She had been involved in a lab accident. Said lab accident was now causing electricity to literally come out of her. The socialite felt a pit form in her stomach and her stomach drop to her knees as panic seemed to consume every inch of her. Panic and unbridled fear. What did this mean for her? For her life? For . . . everything? She knew that she lived in a world where things like this were possible, the stories in the news and in history books a clear indicator of that. But those things, those stories, those people, had never felt more firmly fragmented off of the world that Gabriela housed herself within. Things like heroes and villains and experiments and playing God with the unnatural forces of this world were just things that didn't fit into the mold that was her own life.

But now? Now it seemed like everything was coming together, that these two worlds that she had kept separated from each other with ease were somehow colliding in a catastrophic blur and her own body was affected in the crossfire. Gabriela couldn't help the frustrated tears that filled in her eyes, the image of electricity forming over the pads of her fingers, connecting in small little surges of energy across her hand replaying over and over in her mind. When she had woken up this morning, she had been as normal as she could have possibly been. But now that was all shot to hell and it was almost like walls were caving in, being pulled down as she tried to make sense of all of it.

Somehow extremely perceptive, the engineer sat next to her seemed to catch on immediately to her internal plight. Gently, softly, he tried to reassure her. "Hey . . . look, I know this is a lot to take in, okay? But I mean, on the bright side, you're not alone in this. I mean, I literally carted you back to my apartment in a rubber mat and snuck you in past the old lady who lives in 2B who's suspicious of me even when I order pizza. Clearly, I'm in this for the long haul. Besides, it's my lab that sorta got you into this. And I've already starting theorizing. I've followed a lot of work that got people into situations like this and I've read a shit ton of comic books and science fiction novels, so I probably have this shit on lock compared to anyone else in like a five mile radius."

He then swung his arm out, gesturing to the coffee table seated between the couch and the TV. Littered across the surface were balled up pieces of lined paper, each full of random scribbles that shouldn't make out. An assortment of pens and pencils and highlighters were also strewn across the surface, sidled up against random novels and comics, as well as opened notebook. Peering closer, she was able to see that scribbled across the top line of the page was _CORONA AND ELECTRICITY? HULK OR CAP? HOW?_ _WHY?_

It wasn't the most helpful nor did it answer any of her questions, but there was something about it that tugged at her heart. Oddly enough, it seemed like as good a start as any for the current predicament.

Glancing between the man and his balled up piles of research and books, Gabriela asked, "You . . . you did all of this while I was out?"

"You were out for ten hours, Corona. I got bored," he deadpanned."

"You don't even know me."

"Yeah, but I _do_ know what anyone else at Oscorp would do to you if they found you covered in an electrical discharge that was literally _coming out_ _of you_. You'd be locked up in a lab in the middle of nowhere and you'd be a test subject for the rest of your life. I may work for an absolute nutcase, but I'm not one myself, Corona," Dax replied, giving her a simple shrug of his shoulders. Gently, he reached out to tap a fist against her shoulder playfully. Showing he wasn't afraid of her, like she currently was of herself. "I have your back on this, okay?"

The way he did it made it seem like he wasn't at all disturbed with this current predicament. There was selflessness in his eyes, in his tone, in the way he shrugged his shoulders. She quite possibly had saved his life by pushing him out of the way and now it seemed like this was his way of returning the favor. Gabriela adjusted herself on the couch, squirming against the cushion as she stared at her hands, eyes trained heavily on the fingers that had buzzed to life with electricity and the foreign feeling of no longer knowing who — or _what_ she was. But there was something almost . . . comforting about his tone. The way he made it seem like, together, they would figure this nightmare out.

And while she seemed to acknowledge the thrum of energy she felt roving over her skin was more than likely the electricity that was now seemingly apart of her, she seemed to find a small fragment of hope amongst the explosion that had instantly flipped her world upside down.

Gently, she asked, "And . . . and no one else knows about this?"

He gave her a bashful, yet somehow mischievous grin. "I _may_ have hacked into the system and wiped the computers and the security cameras of any footage or logins that would link either of us to being at Oscorp at that time."

Despite herself, Gabriela couldn't help from a small grin breaking out onto her face. The brunette chuckled lightly. "You might just be my new best friend, Dax Gonzalez."

"Does this friendship involve free food? Because I've literally eaten Ramen six days in a row and I will actually throw myself off the Statue of Liberty if I have to tear open one more flavor packet."

Without warning, a little stream of electricity bubbled out of her skin again, zapping across her fingers for a few seconds. Like the first time, there was no pain. The tingle in her skin grew, a warm buzz across her fingertips. It felt like being tickled, with a few hints of being zapped. No pain. Just . . . odd. Unusual. Inhuman. Her eyes widened. Dax wore a similar expression.

"Um . . . that's going to take some getting used to."

Frantically plucking his notebook and pencil up from the coffee table, Dax shook his head. "Okay, food can wait. Operation How in the Actual Hell Do You Have Electricity Powers and what it means for the fate of my apartment— and possibly the world, because I mean, potential superpowers here — begins effective immediately."

And as the story goes, begin it did.


End file.
